Gladys
"While it does hurt me to have to say it - we'll be forced to destroy the joints on both his arms and his legs." ~ Gladys Gladys ''(formerly known as Talons-of-the-Tit)'' was an Elven female in the service of first the Crimson Wings, and afterwards the Brotherhood of the Nameless. Taciturn, curt, pragmatic yet compassionate she guides herself by a self-imposed code of morality that avoids killing in any circumstance. Having rejected her former life as an elite assassin she is now absolutely devoted to stopping the plans of lord Ilyan Iskaar to bring the Shades of the Horizon to Thressos. Appearance Gladys is a tall,lanky,yet athletic woman of crimson hair. She bears the Elven facial tattoos for most of the graver crimes on her face. Her skin is pale and her facial features angular and stern. The ring finger on her right hand is conspicously missing. Gladys is often seen wearing the fine white shirt,cloth pants,flowing black hooded cloak and tall boots bequathed to her by Mikhael Strand on the day of her supposed defection,stained with the cursed blood of Glaurum. While pretty, Gladys cares little for her physical appearance past hygiene. Personality and Traits Gladys before breaking away from the Crimson Wings was almost emotionless,prioritizing her mission's completion before everything else. Even then she had an interest in the way people related to eachother and the ultimate fate of one, once they had finished their life. This in time evolved into a great compassion for everyone living and a desire to assist others and relieve their suffering, as evidenced by her frequent attending to other people's issues, as a hobby. She enjoys the simple pleasures of life such as good food, the beauty of nature and restful sleep to the fullest when she can acquire them. Having broken away, Gladys has now developed a keen distaste for misery and injustice, seeking to fight it in whatever form it takes. She is soft-spoken, quiet and collected, only lashing out at others when they show their negligence for human lives. She has sworn off killing and thus avoids harming her enemies all too badly when fighting. Sometimes her cold pragmatism when it comes down with dealing with enemies can be jarring as when she offered to dismember Blavir upon discovering he was a werewolf. Powers and Abilities Gladys was a well-rounded, versatile fighter capable of both being a fearsome enemy in open combat as well as proving a slippery foe capable of using trickery and evasion to undo her foes. Physical Aptitude Her elven heritage alongside the years of rigorous training that the Crimson Wings have put her through has molded Gladys' body to a state of almost inhuman perfection. She has great endurance and can run at high speed for long amounts, as well as having incredibly fast reflexes and spatial awareness. Her elven heritage also gives her the ability to see well in almost complete darkness. Weapon Mastery Gladys claims to be able to use every common type of weapon in the kingdoms of Man well, and this appears to be so. While she prefers a rapier for its versatility, backed up by six throwing knives she keeps all over her body she has been seen using a chain-scythe, a greatsword and a crossbow. Elven Magic Having been taught ever since her birth to expand upon her race's magical potential she is capable of reaching into it to perform various spells,such as summoning lighting, cloak her and her companions in shadow, change her appearance by bending light around her face and heal others' wounds. While seemingly powerful it takes a lot of her strength for her to cast her spells and she is forced to be sparing in their use. Having awakened to the threat of the Shadows of the Horizon she is capable of sensing their very presence in an area around herself. Assassin Training Gladys has spent most of her life training to dispatch people with deadly efficiency and grand flare, as well as to navigate and survive both in the harsh wilds of the Rotpearl and in the bustling cities and towns of the Union. Even if she has vowed to herself to no longer kill she is still an expert tracker and hunter as well as a capable infilitrator using many disguises and a set of seemingly harmless items concealing weapons-such as a cane that hides a rapier and a large white parasol that contains a heavy crossbow. Oath Having broken Glaurum's gift on the lead golem she has acquired a magical spear made of the False God's cursed blood that is bound to her own body. It takes the form of a red,almost crystalline battle-spear that she can manifest at will. While light its very presence can rend materials. As well as that upon its' user's command it can grow into the bodies of her enemies tearing them from within. She named the weapon Oath for its abilities to bind those it struck and for its significance in being the tool in fulfilling her own oath to herself, Mikhael and the world. Ring of Wrath The Ring of Wrath is a powerful magic artifact that can both be used as a whistle to enrage animals that hear its call. The sound can be enclosed in bubbles of the user's spit that can be attached to surfaces as a sort of time bomb to release the sound around a specific target, thus leading animals to swarm to it and try and destroy it. It was given to her as her signature weapon as part of the Crimson Wings, but carried it into her exile and service to the Brotherhood. Greaves of the Flying Knife A pair of enchanted leather greaves lent to her by lord Maroyan Sharper they can generate astral knives that can be thrown at the user's will. She is however yet to use them. History Before the events of the campaign At some point about 200 years ago the woman now known as Gladys was taken as an infant from her parents (presumably on the Rotpearl) and initiated into the Crimson Wings. Raised as a valuable slave assassin she was taught only to serve. She was trained to use all weapons,and was dubbed the Talons of the Tit. As Talons of the Tit she spent a good amount of time being sent to kill various high-profile targets using the Ring of Wrath. Some years after her intiation she began doubting the rightness of her calling and thus sought(under the pretext of understanding emotional manipulation better) to acquaint herself better with her fellow man. As so inbetween missions she tried to assist various people with their small problems. 19 years before the current time she met a young Mikhael Strand ,trying to run away from home,during her passing through Loneport and convinced him not to,although at this point her desire to escape her masters had almost leveled out with her fear of denying them. "Voyage to Ber Vokofri" Arc Her first encounter with the group that would later come to be the Brotherhood of the Nameless was when she was dispatched alongside the Talons of the Vulture - a chain-scythe-wielding assassin to kill Mikhael Strand and Senetius of Striecht during their passage alongside the Green Pearls. Being instructed to land on a small island in the archipelago she and her colleague ambushed their entire party,with Gladys herself,putting a voluminous cloak on and awaiting Senetius near a lake and proclaiming that he was being tested,while throwing the cloak off. She used her Ring of Wrath to call down all the various animals on the island atop him and his companion Edith. Soon enough Mikhael and Lithiel joined the fray,with Lithiel taking on the Talons-of-the-Vulture alongside Senecius,while Mikhael and his squire Hammer pursued her into the forest. After setting a herd of elephants on the knight ,while she was pursued and a pod of killer whales on the group as they tried to escape on their boat back to the ship they had been travelling with she was defeated by Lithiel's fire magic. Before passing out she managed to bite her ring finger off, swallowing the Ring of Wrath Having been knocked unconscious she later awoke in the hold of the trading ship her targets had been travelling on. She was questioned by them,yet was unable to divulge any information past the location of the training facility of her order on the Rotpearl and that she was sent to kill them,as she did not know it. She also shared the name of The Talons of the Hawk - the most powerful of the Crimson Wings. As an attempt to finish her mission she appealed to Mikhael's love for oaths,seeing that he was a knight. She undertook the Blood Oath,swearing herself into the Brotherhood of the Nameless,and personally to Mikhael Strand,saying that he now owned her life. An argument broke out between her captors about how to name their new companion,with Lithiel insisting on Tinosa-the elven word for tit,and Mikhael simply calling her ''Gladys" over and over. During this time Mikhael also gave her a change of his own clothing and let her use the enchanted chain-scythe of her fallen companion. He told her as much as he understood of the dangers of the Shadows of the Horizon and lent her ''Shades Beyond Our Comprehension" as well. Later during the day,while pretending to be seasick Gladys threw up her Ring back into her posssession and stealthily used it to try and lure sealife to the boat. The next day,after passing Elva her plan worked and the Malavathan-the great lightning serpent attacked the boat. Playing innocent she pretended to assist the Brotherhood in their fight against it as it wrecked their boat. During the battle as she began making her escape she was noticed by Senetius,as she tried to plant a bubble of sound from her Ring,on him. Acting quickly he detached the bubble from his cloak and threw it back at Gladys attracting the Malavathan onto her. Being almost swallowed whole,she used the chain-scythe and the ring to attract various sea life to the monster and float away-almost dead. At the brink of death and having failed her mission she realized that she valued her life. As so she concluded - others did as well,maybe even more than she did. Managing to make it to the Rune Shore the realization that now was the chance she had awaited to desert her masters was upon her,and that her life was hers for the living. Once ashore she swore to herself to find Mikhael Strand and seek to mend her treachery to the oath she gave him,as well as assist the cause he introduced to her ,coming to see the true horror of the Shadows as she acquianted herself with the book she was given,and before herself she swore to guard other lives as she does her own and value them in the same way. "Man's End" Arc After acquiring weaponry suited to her tastes, stealing it from a travelling caravan she made her way to Man's End, where she had been told that the Brotherhood was seeking to go. Arriving before the party she assumed the guise of ''Gladyeon"- a male elven wanderer and swore her blade to Mirinin. Later she tracked Mikhael, Lithiel and Senecius through the city and when they were attacked by The Talons of the Hawk she intervened at the last moment, nailing a knife through his head and disappearing into the shadows, unable to face Strand with the things she had done. After this she returned to Mirinin's mansion and attended a briefing given by the wizard to her, the rest of the Brotherhood, being joined by the enigmatic one-armed young wizard Opinor Corydon and another newcomer- a blind wanderer from the Runelands named Shia. During that briefing Mikhael showed suspicion towards her disguise and forced her to reveal her actual identity. Upon that Mirinin was ready to evict her from the organization, with only the timely intervention of Mikhael insisting he was giving her a second chance to do good on her oath to him. Taking this chance she ,alongside Shia swore herself via the Blood Oath to the Brotherhood, this time swearing with the name she had chosen to keep as her own-Gladys. With Mikhael being kept behind alongside Lithiel so Mirinin could do research she alongside Opinor, Shia and Senetius set out to the island of Sacris to try and break through the Imperial blockade of it and retrieve the artifact of the False God on it - Glaurum the Lord of Sacrifice. However during the party's initial wandering through Man's End for supplies they ran into a suspicious group of hooded men that on Gladys' suggestion they tracked to a mansion in the city. Using her elven magic and Senecius' infiltration skills they broke into the place, followed the men into an underground shrine and much to their horror discovered they had run into one of Ilyan Iskaar's secret hideouts, when Gladys discovered a Mouth of the Void chained in a side corridor of the sanctuary. They watched as he used the item - an enchanted spear of some kind to part a bucket of water and speak of his intention to use it to break the Imperial blockade on the isle of Sacris. As they tracked him upwards into the mansion Senecius decided to attack him for reasons unknown to Gladys. Even ambushed and outnumbered four-to-one lord Iskaar proved to be a fearsome foe, Gladys discovering that her blades passed through his frame and that he could move faster than the eye could track and attack when reasonably he would be unable as well as channel the powers of the void. After setting the mansion aflame the party hurried into the yard, with Gladys attempting to get everyone to evacuate as the battle was going unfavorably, while Senecius pressed the attack,giving Opinor an opening to issue a Sending to Mirinin to alert him of the current situation. Severely wounded, Iskaar managed to escape and set a group of Dawn cultists and the Mouths of the Void on the group. Gladys and Shia fought valiantly to cover the severly wounded Senecius and Opinor. Еntering a fight with both the mansion's guards and the Mouths which used their pressure field to knock out almost everyone ,only the timely return of Mikhael and Lithiel saving them from being devoured whole. Upon arriving Gladys gave a situation report of Iskaar's new weapon which sent Mikhael into a blind rage, as it turned out the weapon had been the Strand ancestral spear- Hrithspel. Senecius, still seeking to destroy Iskaar for reasons not entirely clear to Gladys offered to help Mikhael in chasing him down. Mikhael also borrowed Ruin-which he had gifted to Opinor as As Mikhael, Lithiel and Senecius hurried off to chase Iskaar Gladys managed to convince the mansion's guards to join the Brotherhood's cause using the argument of their former master having set the monsters of the Void,he had not previously told them about on them,and their lives being endangered now that they knew the truth. Recruiting their help she, alongside with Shia and Opinor she returned to Mirinin's own mansion and conducted a search of the city, while Mirinin departed to pursue and try and intercept lord Iskaar provided he had fled. "Sacris" Arc Upon combing the city clean alongside her companions and discovering nothing Gladys alongside Opinor suggested the party following Mirinin in the pursuit of lord Iskaar. Upon tracing his and the rest of their allies path alongside the shoreline they were followed by a mysterious armored rider. In one of the many fishing hamlets ,overcrowded with large crowds of refugees they finally confronted said rider, who turned out to be of orcish descent. Claiming to have come from the direction of the recently transpired cataclysm he introduced himself as Dustin -a paladin of the Four who had seen the events that had occurred in the fishing hamlet upshore. After describing to the party what he had seen, they all agreed to go there with him. Gladys was reluctant to allow this clear outsider and potential spy into their midst, but was overruled.Category:Characters